May 25, 2023 

The world has lost a legend. On Wednesday, the iconic Tina Turner, a woman who embodied rock and roll in its purest form, passed away in Switzerland. Tina’s remarkable journey to stardom and her indomitable spirit have inspired and spawned generations of future artists. She leaves behind her husband, Erwin Bach, and two of her four children.

Just listen to Tina performing “Honky Tonk Woman” in 1971. Much too colossal a figure to be anyone’s mere muse, she delivered the sleazy blues lyrics from her perspective: “I met a gin-soaked barroom man in Memphis.” Tina seized the narrative reins and reshaped the story, a testament to her inherent capacity to redefine the script on her own terms.

Tina’s early life was not one of luxury or grandeur. Born Anna Mae Bullock in 1939, she moved to St. Louis in 1957, at the inchoate age of 18, to pursue a singing career, escaping a difficult and destitute childhood marked by abandonment and hardship. It was there in the grimy clubs of St. Louis that she first met Ike Turner, who recognized her inimitable talent and would eventually become her partner, both professionally and personally, in a tumultuous relationship.

Though Tina appeared ostensibly invincible in the spotlight as she captivated audiences with her powerful performances, her life off-stage bore the scars of a much more profound struggle. Beneath her strength and dynamism, she was enduring an abusive relationship with Ike Turner, who exploited her youth and innocence. Christening the performer with the stage name Tina, Ike groomed her into a veritable hit-maker for his newly conceived duo: Ike and Tina Turner.

As Tina described to People magazine in a 1981 interview and subsequent interviews, at the time, she was in her early 20s, married to Ike, and brainwashed, caught up in guilt and fear: “The two worst qualities for a young girl to be caught up in.” Much like her marital life, Tina’s path to professional stardom meandered through hardship. Despite the dogged abuse, she fought through the tribulations. Through exhausting touring schedules, Tina would be working as many as four shows a night, even singing on the tour bus between shows.

Her collaboration with Phil Spector in 1966 gave her the creative freedom she had yearned for, leading to the recording of “River Deep — Mountain High.” Despite being broadly considered Spector’s finest work and earning accolades across Europe, the record faced an uphill battle in the United States, where its unique sound didn’t comfortably fit into established radio categories. In a racially segregated music industry, it was considered “too white” for the black R&B charts and “too black” for the mainstream pop charts, leaving it underplayed and underappreciated in its home country.

Following a string of lukewarm commercial successes, in the 1980s Tina found herself facing her last shot at the stardom she had tirelessly pursued. Having left her Svengali husband Ike, she emerged from the ashes of their odious marriage with nothing more than the legal rights to her stage name, Tina.

As she had done with the songs she had covered, Tina seized the reins and shaped her own narrative. Despite the seemingly insurmountable odds, at the age of 45, and as a mother of four, Tina achieved her first number-one record in 1984. Not one to rest on her laurels, she subsequently embarked on an exhaustive five-leg tour, performing over 180 shows in less than a year.

Born into poverty and neglect, Tina Turner came into the world with little more than her innate talent and an unyielding conviction to succeed. She was a remarkable woman who bore the brunt of her struggles with grace. Despite her arduous journey, she left an indelible mark on the world of music, setting the stage for many who would follow in her footsteps. We may have lost a legend, but her legacy, much like the rock and roll spirit she embodied, will never die.

Originally published on The Washington Examiner